The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation will hold a full committee hearing on September 3, 2025, at 10:30 AM EST to discuss the future of U.S. leadership in space. The session is titled “There’s a Bad Moon on the Rise: Why Congress and NASA Must Thwart China in the Space Race.” The focus will be on legislative priorities for the upcoming reauthorization of NASA and strategies to maintain American competitiveness in low Earth orbit, lunar operations, Mars exploration, and deep space missions.
Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) emphasized the importance of this discussion given current global dynamics. "For decades, NASA has made the United States a global leader in space explorations, scientific discovery, and innovation. But make no mistake: we are in a 21st century space race. Communist China is not playing by the same rules, and they are aggressively investing resources to dominate space. This hearing is an important opportunity to chart a course that reinforces American leadership in space, strengthens NASA, fuels our growing commercial space sector, and protects our economic and national security interests in the final frontier," said Sen. Cruz.
Witnesses scheduled to testify include Allen Cutler, President and CEO of the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration; Michael Gold, President of Civil and International Space for Redwire; Jim Bridenstine, Managing Partner of the Artemis Group and former NASA Administrator; and Lieutenant General John Shaw, former Deputy Commander of U.S. Space Command.
The hearing will take place at Russell Senate Office Building Room 253. It will be available via livestream on both the committee's website and YouTube channel.
Reporters interested in attending have been asked to RSVP through their respective media galleries.
